Senator Kihika roots for establishment of audit committee to monitor spending in Nakuru County

Senator Susan Kihika on Monday claimed that the county has been losing financial allocations due to the inexistence of an internal audit committee/FILE – COURTESY

NAKURU, Kenya, Jul 9 – Nakuru County Government has been challenged to urgently constitute an Internal Audit Committee to ensure proper utilization of resources allocated to the devolved unit by the National Treasury.

Senator Susan Kihika on Monday claimed that the county has been losing financial allocations due to the inexistence of an internal audit committee.

The Senator who sits in the budget mediation team in Parliament also expressed disappointment over the recent standoff between the Senate and the National Assembly over county allocations.

She said the Sh310 billion proposed by the National Assembly was inadequate to fund operations in 47 counties.

The Senate had proposed Sh327 billion to be allocated to the counties under the 2019/20 financial year.

“As Nakuru County we have been missing out on quite a big sum of money simply because we do not have an internal audit committee. So the Governor needs to go ahead and constitute it,” said Kihika.

The Senator faulted Governor Lee Kinyanjui for the suspending the County Public Service Board (CPSB), claiming the county chief had employed more staff in various positions at the county which is in contrary to the law.

“The Public Service Board is the one mandated to recruit staff,” she said

She wondered why the county was hiring yet there were claims of a huge wage bill.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

She promised that she was going to follow up and find out why the CPSB was disbanded.

In January this year, Governor Kinyanjui suspended the County Public Service Board and its secretariat over alleged gross misconduct.

The suspension was extended in April.

On Wednesday last week, he nominated four new CPSB members and a secretary who are due to be vetted by the County Assembly.